McConnell Just Barely Beating Opponent In New Poll

A new poll shows the Senate Minority Leader with a slight lead in one of the most heated Senate races in the country that could determine the upper chamber’s balance of power in January.

Senator Mitch McConnell leads Alison Lundergan Grimes by 50 percent to 46 percent, according to a poll released Wednesday by CNN/ORC International. Grimes is within the poll’s four percent margin of error. The poll was conducted between August 28 and September 1 and took a sample size of 671 likely voters.

A second poll released by Rasmussen shows McConnell ahead by five points with 46 percent, while Grimes at 41 percent, just outside the four percent margin of error. This poll was conducted between September 1 and 2 and took a sample size of 750 likely voters.

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The dueling polls come after Jesse Benton, McConnell’s campaign manager, resignedlast week because former Iowa state Senator Kent Sorenson accepted $73,000 from the Ron Paul campaign to leave Michele Bachmann’s campaign less than one week before the 2012 Iowa caucuses. After a federal investigation, Sorenson pleaded guilty to bribery charges. Benton had been serving as Paul’s political director when the bribe transpired, but has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Grimes has not led a poll since early June, when she led McConnell by three points (49 to 46) in a survey conducted by Magellan Strategies. This is in spite of attracting big name donors from Hollywood, including James Cameron, Nicolas Cage, Danny DeVito, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Jerry Seinfeld, and several others, according to reporting from The Hill. Each of them contributed $5,200 to the Democrat, which is the most an individual can give to a candidate in a single election cycle.

McConnell is in line to become the Senate Majority Leader if the GOP reclaims the Senate in November.